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Dwight Eisenhower, 34th president

Iran used to be an ally of the US. Hard to believe, right? It was ruled by a dictator, the Shah, but the elected parliament and popular prime minister wanted to establish a full democracy and regain control of the country's oil reserves. The oil was owned by a British company (now known as BP), so the British didn't like that. And the US feared the spread of communism. Shortly after Ike was elected in 1953, he approved a plan that overthrew the elected government. This worked well for the US at the time, but the hatred of the Shah and his obvious ties to the US led to the 1979 Islamist uprising as well as continued strained relations today and distrust of American actions in Islamic countries.